Ghost Rider Is Headed to the MCU, But You Can Stream Nic Cage’s Version For Free in August

Marvel Studios used its 2026 Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con to reveal a wave of new projects, not as surprising as a new Ghost Rider movie. Ghost Rider has circulated as a rumored MCU addition for years, with fans speculating about which actor might finally embody the flaming-skulled antihero after Sony’s earlier attempts at a franchise fizzled out. In the panel, Kevin Feige confirmed that Ryan Gosling will ride into the franchise with a 2028 theatrical release, directed by Shawn Levy and written by Jonathan Tropper. The film is positioned as one of the first releases after the franchise’s soft reboot in Avengers: Secret Wars, a placement that speaks to how much weight Marvel is putting on the character’s return, even if Marvel has not confirmed which iteration of Ghost Rider Gosling will play.

Long before Gosling’s casting, Nicolas Cage brought the Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze to the big screen twice, first in 2007’s Ghost Rider and again in 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. The original film, directed by Mark Steven Johnson, followed Blaze as a motorcycle stuntman who sold his soul to save his father and later became a supernatural bounty hunter for the demon Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda). The sequel, directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, sent Blaze to Eastern Europe to protect a young boy from dark forces seeking to claim him. Both films will soon be available for free, as Ghost Rider and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance hit Tubi on August 1st.

Is It Still Worth It to Watch the Nic Cage’s Ghost Rider Movies?

Critics were unkind to both films from the start. Ghost Rider currently holds a 28% score on Rotten Tomatoes, while Spirit of Vengeance fell further to 18%. That drop matched a similar decline at the box office. The original grossed roughly $228.7 million worldwide against a budget in the $110 to $120 million range, a healthy return that made Ghost Rider one of Sony’s earlier successes in adapting Marvel characters beyond Spider-Man. The sequel could not repeat that result, earning closer to $132.6 to $149.4 million against a $57 million budget, a smaller haul that mirrored the drop in critical goodwill. Nevertheless, despite their shared reputation for weak reviews, a loyal pocket of the fandom has kept both films part of the cultural conversation for nearly two decades.

That endurance of the Ghost Rider movies says something notable about the character, especially given how little the comics themselves have managed to build on his legacy. Johnny Blaze first appeared as the modern Ghost Rider in Marvel Spotlight #5 in August 1972, and his solo series was canceled just over a decade later, in 1983. Marvel has relaunched the property multiple times since, introducing new hosts like Danny Ketch and Robbie Reyes, only to cancel those runs as well, including a series scrapped in 2020 with several already-solicited issues left unpublished. Along the way, the multiple iterations of the character appeared in stories of uneven quality, to the point the Ghost Rider’s must-read list is surprisingly short considering the character’s five decades of history. Yet Ghost Rider remains a name fans consistently ask to see in the pages and on the screen. The flaming skull and the fiery motorcycle are simply too striking a visual hook to abandon, and that alone has kept the character in the conversation regardless of how well it fared in the Marvel universe.

Since Tubi will soon stream the Ghost Rider movies for free, there’s no risk involved in giving them a go and simply enjoying the campy chaos both entries deliver. For fans preparing for Gosling’s version, revisiting the Cage films also offers a baseline for comparison, showing exactly which choices Marvel Studios might look to repeat or avoid while building its own take on the character.

The new Ghost Rider is scheduled to be released in theaters in 2028. Starting this weekend, you can watch the two previous movies for free on Tubi.

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